


An Unexpected Meeting

by kavkakat



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-02-09 10:15:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1979004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kavkakat/pseuds/kavkakat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cosette goes out for a walk, is not nearly as defenseless at people believe, and meets someone new.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unexpected Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Posted first at my [tumblr](http://kavkakat.tumblr.com/post/39157260177/an-unexpected-meeting), and was a response to the heinous lack of femslash in the Les Mis fandom back when I first wrote it (also, still, tbh).

Cosette did not mean to hurt her father - she loved Valjean dearly, really, as much or more than she had loved her own mother - but there were times when he was too overbearing for her to breath or sleep. That was when she put on her most worn dress, covered her head, and snuck out of her window quietly. Valjean didn’t believe she was capable of such activity, she knew, but she was not the innocent little angel that he saw. And since she loved him dearly, she would not disabuse him of his little ideas.

She had only been in Paris a few weeks, but she had memorized the basic layout of the streets and, of course, the easiest ways to go up and move around off the streets. It was something that Valjean did every time he came to a new city - just walk around and keep notes on possible escapes - and Cosette liked doing it and it made her feel safe, safer than the knife she kept tucked into her dress. She knew how fast she could run, and how fast she could climb a wall, and how well she could keep her balance; she was not sure how well she could wield a knife.

The streets were dark and a little frightening, but Cosette remembered her bed at home and Valjean’s smothering love, and pressed on. She would rather the cold and dark and free than a comfortable cage, and that was what home was tonight. Cosette knew she was not exactly proper in her ways and desires, but she didn’t know how she could turn out any other way, not the way she was raised upon secrets and running and being hidden.

She remembered the boy she bumped into earlier, the one with the freckles and large blue eyes. Maybe she could find him, and - well, she didn’t rightly know. But she supposed she could learn his name.

There was a huddle of men at the end of this alley, so she turned and took another path. There was a girl at the end of this alley, at the end, slouching against the wall. It wasn’t obvious she was a girl; her hair was tucked up under a cap and her chest was flat, but Cosette recognized her from earlier, when she wore a dress. She was peeking out of the alley, keeping herself hidden in a way Cosette recognized.

"I know you," she breathed, a little too loud.

The girl jumped and spun around. She froze when she saw Cosette, and then she relaxed and crossed her arms. She looked Cosette up and down and said, “It’s you, then.”

Cosette stepped closer. “You were with that boy earlier, the one -“

"With the cute arse and blue, blue eyes?" the girl asked, and Cosette felt a little awkward at the bitterness in her tone. "Yes, Marius."

"That’s his name?" Cosette asked, but she wasn’t really concentrating on him. She was watching the girl as she shifted her weight, tossing her chin up in a challenge. "What’s yours, then?"

The girl scoffed, then said, “I’m Eponine. Eponine Thenardier.”

Cosette gasped and rushed forward, catching Eponine’s hands before she could jerk away. “Eponine, it’s me, it’s Cosette!” she exclaimed, grinning. She had loathed Eponine’s mother, and disliked her father, but she’d never had any reason to dislike Eponine herself. She gripped Eponine’s hands tighter, not liking the fear in her eyes, and said, “Don’t you remember? We lived together as children.”

"You were that whore’s child," Eponine said.

Cosette flinched and let Eponine’s hands fall. She felt tears burning the backs of her eyes and she was surprised that an insult to her mother could still hurt so much, after all these years. “So you do remember me.”

Eponine made a face. “I didn’t mean it like that,” she complained. “It’s - it’s just what my mother always called her.”

"I know," Cosette said wryly. "I was old enough to know how much she hated my mother." She looked down and took a deep breath. "It’s late. I need to be home before my father finds out I’ve gone," she said quietly.

"Your father - is he -"

Cosette giggled a bit. “No, not by birth. He was the one that took me away. We have lived together ever since.”

"Like - " Eponine began hesitantly, shoulders hunching up. Cosette tilted her head, and then realized what she meant.

"Oh, no!" she said. "Nothing like that. He’s my father, truly. He’s never less than proper with me."

Eponine nodded and scowled. “Lucky you,” she muttered, shoulders hunching up even more.

Cosette hesitated, then said, “You could come and - live with us. I know Father would not mind.” She hoped Valjean wouldn’t, at least. It would be more difficult to escape the law with three people, but Valjean had saved Cosette; she saw no reason why Eponine couldn’t escape the Thenardiers as well.

"No thanks," Eponine said curtly. "I don’t need pity from you, of all people."

"And what does that mean?" Cosette exclaimed, forgetting to keep her voice down for a second. She balled her fists and snarled, "I only thought to help you, because you made my life with you parents bearable, and because I thought I could. If you’re going to be cruel, then just -"

"Look, I’m sorry!" Eponine said. "I say things without thinking, and I don’t mean half of them. People don’t take me seriously, anyways, so why should I mean what I say?"

Cosette unballed her fists and looked at Eponine sadly. “Because it’s you that says it,” she said. “And even if no one else cares, you should. Besides - I care.”

"You care," Eponine repeated, shifting her weight to one side and folding her arms, one eyebrow raised high.

Cosette smiled grandly and said, “Yes. I do. Because no one cares what I have to say, either, so maybe we can care about each other.”

Eponine remained silent for a moment, and then she relaxed again and said, “Fine. Friends. But my parents can’t see you, and you can’t walk around like that anymore.”

"You’ll teach me?" Cosette asked.

"Yeah, fine," Eponine answered. She sighed. She unfolded her arms. "I suppose I should escort you back home, then."

"It would be nice," Cosette said. "We can go by way of the ninth arrondissement."

"Oh, really." There was the skepticism again, but Cosette was starting to realize that was just Eponine’s defense. It couldn’t have been easy to grow up on the streets, surrounded by thieves.

"It’s nicer from above," Cosette explained.

Eponine still didn’t believe her, that was obvious, but she followed Cosette along Escape Path 38, and later, when they jumped down from the roof of a tumble-down bakery, Eponine’s cheeks were flushed and she was grinning, so Cosette took it as a win.


End file.
